You’ve Heard Red Wine’s Good For You? Here’s Why
by Michael D. Hume, M.S.
Years ago, researchers from Harvard Medical School (and others) found an impressive nutrient with the power to fight aging, improve cardio-vascular and neurologic health, and help the human body battle everything from fatigue to disease. It’s called “resveratrol,” and it’s the ingredient in red wine that you’ve heard so much talk about lately.
How does it work?
Well, Father Time is wreaking havoc on your body, all the time. As you grow older (especially if you can manage to do it in our modern fast-food-and-TV societies), your body is bombarded by toxins of all sorts, from airborne and food-borne toxins to the stuff your flourescent lights are putting out that’s slowly killing your brain. The bad stuff attacks your cells, and literally starts tearing them apart. You’ve heard the term “free radical,” right? Those are particles torn from your cells that are floating around inside you, looking to attach themselves to healthy cells (and thereby making those cells UN-healthy in short order). Even if you lived a brilliantly clean life (and you don’t), this would happen anyway… your cells just break down over time. The technical term for this is “oxidation,” and you know it as “gettin’ old.”
To fight the oxidation of their cells – from both natural aging and the more unnatural aspects of life in 2011 – people buy and consume mass quantities of “anti-oxidants.” Not enough people do this, of course, and you can almost see it in the color of their hair and the wrinkles in their skin. Anti-oxidants are VERY important, and should be one of the centerpieces of your daily supplement regimen. They work to help your body repair those damaged cells, safely eliminate those free radicals, and resist further damage. Think of anti-oxidants as the Health Patrol in your body, running around fixing and protecting you at the cellular level… and foiling the attacks of Father Time.
And one of the best anti-oxidants (if not THE best) is resveratrol.
That’s why many researchers are saying that, not only will a glass or two of red wine every day not kill you, it would be good for you. You actually get a tiny benefit from the alcohol (as long as you don’t overdo it), because it helps clean your blood and reduce your bad cholesterol. But the big bennies come from the resveratrol, the commanding general of that Health Patrol we talked about. Resveratrol, in the right concentration, literally turns on human genes that order your cells to fix themselves.
The trouble is, you’d have to drink hundreds of glasses of wine every day to get resveratrol in the “right concentration” to activate those genes. Here’s a hint: don’t do that. One day like that, and you’re off the planet… not to mention that, while drunkenness of any kind is horrible for you, red wine produces a particularly mean and unpleasant kind of hangover that you just don’t want. Or so somebody told me. Even slightly over-doing it, over time, can make you fat and lazy. Wine does contain sugar, after all, and sugar’s just not all that great for your body.
So many companies are putting out resveratrol supplements, and if you haven’t added such a supplement to your daily health regimen, you should. Is it the very best medicine for anti-aging? No, highly-expensive clinical gene therapy is probably better. But for the average person, resveratrol is the best “available” medicine to help your body fight the clock.
When choosing a resveratrol supplement, there are a few things you need to look for. First, don’t just cheap out. The quality, potency, and safety of resveratrol supplements varies greatly, and you don’t want to get what’s cheap if it isn’t good. You want to make sure the product you buy is safe: the nutrient should be high-quality, harvested from a location where they care about things like purity and human rights, tested to be free of agricultural chemicals, and manufactured in a safe (inspected) facility. And if you can, get an activated liquid product for optimal delivery of the nutrient to your cells (resveratrol is only moderately absorbed from the human gut).
I use just such a resveratrol supplement that mimics the wine I love to drink (but shouldn’t drink as much of as I sometimes have!). It even comes in a wine bottle, and I can mix just a little bit of it with water to make a glass of “fake wine” that’s REALLY good for me. I’ve been focusing on using it daily for a few days now, and I can really feel the difference in my energy level. And Friend Wife even told me this weekend that my face looks… younger!
I recommend resveratrol, taken in the right concentration with a healthy dose of the other thing that fights aging: optimism. Sure, the world is trying to make you old quickly these days, and you have to contend with everything from taking care of your business in your day job to dealing with the effects of a crumbling global economy. And do you really want to rely on government health care? But things will get better. For one thing, after a regimen of anti-oxidants such as resveratrol, you’ll be “younger” next month! You’ll have more energy to do battle with the challenges in your life. In short, your life improves as YOU take personal responsibility to improve yourself. And a strong commitment to daily health habits, such as consistent use of the miracle of resveratrol, will literally make you better every day.
-30-
Michael Hume is a speaker, writer, and consultant specializing in helping people maximize their potential and enjoy inspiring lives. As part of his inspirational leadership mission, he coaches executives and leaders in growing their personal sense of well-being through wealth creation and management, along with personal vitality.
Those with an entrepreneurial spirit who want to make money “one less thing to worry about” can learn more about working with Michael at http://oneyearplan.net/michaeldhume
Anyone wanting to jump-start their vitality can browse through the best (and most convenient) nutraceuticals on the market at http://shop.enivausa.com/239824
Michael and his wife, Kathryn, divide their time between homes in California and Colorado. They are very proud of their offspring, who grew up to include a homemaker, a rock star, a service talent, and a television expert. Two grandchildren also warm their hearts! Visit Michael’s web site at http://michaelhume.net